Congress quietly removed a core part of the U.S. Constitution from its official website — and it just so happens to be the part that protects Americans from being jailed without cause.
Article I, Section 9 — the section that guarantees the right to habeas corpus, the right to challenge unlawful detention — disappeared from Congress.gov’s annotated version of the Constitution. For a few days, anyone checking the “official” source would’ve thought this key constitutional protection didn’t exist.
This wasn’t a random blog or a shady rewrite — this happened on Congress’s own website. And not just any section vanished. The deleted text included this line:
“The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.”
That’s the line that prevents the government from locking people up without explaining why. And it’s gone — or at least, it was, until it was quietly restored after the deletion was noticed.
“A Coding Error,” They Say. On Wednesday morning, after the disappearance was pointed out, the Library of Congress posted on X (formerly Twitter): “We’ve learned that this is due to a coding error. We have been working to correct this and expect it to be resolved soon.”
A message was also posted at the top of the page warning users of “data issues.”
But many inside the government weren’t convinced this was just a simple mistake. One federal employee involved with the matter told Rolling Stone:
“Funny coincidence.”
The removal came just as Donald Trump and his inner circle were once again showing open contempt for the Constitution — especially habeas corpus.
Back in May, Stephen Miller, Trump’s close adviser, said on live TV: “The writ of habeas corpus can be suspended in a time of invasion, so that is an option we’re actively looking at.”
That wasn’t just a slip — that’s the kind of language authoritarians use to justify locking people up without charges, especially immigrants and political enemies.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, a lead figure in Trump’s mass deportation push, also flubbed the basics. She claimed habeas corpus is:
“A constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country.”
That’s not what it means. At all. Habeas corpus does the opposite — it gives people the right to demand an explanation for their detention.
Trump himself was asked in May whether the Constitution limits what he can do. His answer?
The timing of all this is more than suspicious. Just months ago, Trump fired the Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden — a respected professional and the first Black woman to ever lead the institution — before the end of her term. He replaced her with Todd Blanche, his former personal attorney and a DOJ official who has a record of losing habeas cases in court.
That’s right: the man now overseeing the digital version of the Constitution on Congress’s website is someone who’s spent time in court trying to limit the very right that just vanished from the public record.
Hayden is fighting the removal in court, having appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Let’s be clear: deleting parts of the Constitution from a government website doesn’t actually change the law. Judges and lawyers still have access to real, unaltered versions. But that’s not the point.
This is about erasing public understanding. Most Americans don’t carry around pocket Constitutions. They go online. And if they go to Congress.gov — the most trusted source — and don’t see habeas corpus there, they might think it’s not a right anymore.
That’s dangerous.
It’s the kind of subtle erosion authoritarian governments count on: rewriting history not in the courts, but in the minds of everyday people.
Why It Matters Now
The Trump campaign has made no secret of its plans to expand executive power and sidestep constitutional limits. His allies are openly discussing mass arrests, sweeping deportations, and ignoring judicial oversight.
If habeas corpus — the right to force the government to justify imprisoning you — can disappear from the official record, even “by accident,” what’s next?
This time, it was put back after people noticed. But next time?
Make no mistake: when the government deletes your rights from its own website — even temporarily — it’s not a “glitch.” It’s a warning.
